wislawa-szymborska

We have a soul at times.No one__ got it non-stop,for keeps.Day after day,year after yearmay pass without it.Sometimesit will settle for awhileonly in childhood__ fears and raptures.Sometimes only in astonishmentthat we are old.It rarely lends a handin uphill tasks,like moving furniture,or lifting luggage,or going miles in shoes that pinch.It usually steps outwhenever meat needs choppingor forms have to be filled.For every thousand conversationsit participates in one,if even that,since it prefers silence.Just when our body goes from ache to pain,it slips off-duty.It__ picky:it doesn__ like seeing us in crowds,our hustling for a dubious advantageand creaky machinations make it sick.Joy and sorrowaren__ two different feelings for it.It attends usonly when the two are joined.We can count on itwhen we__e sure of nothingand curious about everything.Among the material objectsit favors clocks with pendulumsand mirrors, which keep on workingeven when no one is looking.It won__ say where it comes fromor when it__ taking off again,though it__ clearly expecting such questions.We need itbut apparentlyit needs usfor some reason too.